


tricks

by romanoffrights



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Hallucinations, Hopeful Ending, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Kinda, Memory Loss, Mute Allison Hargreeves, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Other, Psychosis, Sorry Not Sorry, dolores and fives relationship is... not healthy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 15:00:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanoffrights/pseuds/romanoffrights
Summary: "They're lying."Dolores said, and Five looked over at her in confusion,"Don't fall for their tricks. The apocalypse is in three days and you have to stop it."





	tricks

**Author's Note:**

> hey!!  
> here's a fair warning-  
> i don't have psychosis.  
> this was written after a lot of research. if you think i did something wrong while writing it, let me know, and ill do my best to fix it.

Five crinkled his nose at the bottle of pills Luther had held out for him.

"I told you this was unnecessary." Five said, voice blank and near monotone.

"They're gonna help you, Five." Luther said, voice too gentle for Five's liking. Five scoffed and snatched the pills out of Luther's hand.

"The doctor said-"

"Once a day in the morning, I know." Five grit out. 

Five doesn't have time for this. The apocalypse is in three days, so there was no point in beginning to take meds now, because the world was gonna end and he didn't have time to stop and take stupid pills every day when he could be working on saving the world-

 _"You're thinking too loudly."_ Dolores said from where she was sitting, and Five looked over at her.

"I'm thinking about the apocalypse." Five said blankly, and he could see Luther and Diego (when had Diego got here?) sharing glances.

 _"Three days, Five."_ Dolores said and Five rolled his eyes.

"You don't think I know that?" Five scoffed. He looked over at Luther because Luther was snapping his fingers to get his attention.

That was dumb. Five isn't a dog. 

"Five." Luther said gently, and it made Five's blood boil, "The apocalypse is over. We stopped it, remember?"

Five gave him a bewildered expression. "No, the apocalypse is in three days and I have to stop it. We have to stop it, or we're all going to-"

"Five." It was Diego this time, his voice much more firm. Luther looked over him with the look. "Five." Diego said again, voice softening. "The apocalypse is over. We stopped it. You stopped it, really."

 _"They're lying."_ Dolores said, and Five looked over at her in confusion, _"Don't fall for their tricks. The apocalypse is in three days and you have to stop it."_

Five didn't know who to believe.

So he blinked, and he was gone.

•••

The next morning when Five woke up, there were pills on his bedside and a glass of water. A note in what Five though was Allison's handwriting was next to it.

Five was confused for a long moment, simply staring at the pills, letting his memories sink in.

They diagnosed him three weeks ago. (Dr. Harte. Five remembered that because the Doctor kept calling him a kid.)

They got the prescription for medicine a week ago.

They got the actual medicine yesterday.

It had a name he couldn't remember. He knew he was supposed to take it, but he didn't know how many.

He knew better than to take anymore than four. He decided to read over Allison's note anyway.

_Five,_

_Take one pill when you wake up. Only one, no more. Drink water._

_Everyone (Dolores as well) is downstairs._

_Come down when you wake up._

_\- Allison._

Five crinkled his nose. He picked up the pill bottle, examined it, and eventually took one. He took a long drink of water.

The apocalypse is in three days, he thinks, but it's not his voice, it's Dolores's.

Five blinked.

He jumped downstairs, still holding the glass of water. Klaus damn near jumped out of his skin. Five thought that was funny.

"Jesus, Five!" He hissed, and Five's lips quirked- just a bit. 

"Good morning." Five said, his voice monotone as he wandered over to make himself s cup of coffee.

"Did you take-" Luther began, but Five cut him off.

"Yes, I did." Five spoke, glancing over at Allison who smiled half-heartedly at him.

Five smiled back.

The apocalypse was in three days, but he could use a break, anyway.

 _Just a small one. You need to get back to work._ Five shook the thought (it wasn't his, though) off. The apocalypse could wait. Dolores could wait.

•••

This process seemed to repeat over and over. Five would wake up, and he'd take a moment to remember everything, and he'd take his meds, and the apocalypse was in three days.

Apparently, it'd been almost a month and a half. Five didn't believe that. He also didn't think the meds had kicked in quite yet, but he didn't care all that much, because the apocalypse was soon and he had to stop it.

"What day is it?" 

As he walked into the kitchen, the words slipped out of Five's mouth would pure ease. All eyes turned to him. Five frowned.

 _"Thursday."_ Allison signed. Five nodded slowly. Thursday.

The apocalypse is in three days, he thought, but didn't say. He should find Dolores.

So Five poured himself a cup of coffee, and wandered off to find her.

She was in the main room. Five didn't remember leaving her there. That's okay, maybe one of his siblings moved her.

"The apocalypse is coming." Five said, as thought Dolores didn't already know. He frowned when he didn't get a response.

"Are you giving me the silent treatment?" He asked, "That's not polite, Dolores." He said, tilting his head.

No response.

"Fine." He said through grit teeth, "I'll do it on my own."

"Five?" Vanya. Five perked up, looking over at her.

"Hmm?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee and walking over to the other, leaving Dolores to brood on her own. He didn't have time for her, not when the apocalypse was coming.

"Can we talk?" Vanya asked, her voice sickeningly sweet. Five blinked a bit, but nodded.

"Okay. But not for too long, I have to get to work." Five said blankly, and Vanya took a deep breath.

"That's what I wanna talk about, actually." Vanya said carefully and Five almost smiled. 

"Great. Do you wanna help me, is that it?" Five asked genuinely, raising an eyebrow.

Vanya faltered, shaking her head, "Five, the apocalypse is over. We stopped it." She said gently. The words were so familiar- she'd said them so many times before.

Five stared at her and frowned deeply. 

She's lying, he thought. Dolores's voice again. They're all lying, Five.

But what if they're not? What if they're right? 

Had they stopped the apocalypse? Had they really? Or had it been a dream? Or maybe Dolores was right, maybe she was lying. Maybe she was trying to fool him, like everyone else was.

"Five?" Vanya questioned, concern written across her face.

"I think you may be right." Five said carefully, "I think we stopped it."

"We did!" Vanya said with a weak smile, "You remember? I-" She paused for a short moment, "I was gonna start it. But you all stopped me."

Five stared at her, willing the memories to return.

"Ben..." He said slowly, "Klaus conjured Ben. And..." He paused and pressed his lips together, frowning.

"It's okay, Five, you don't have to remember it all." Vanya said, reaching out to touch his shoulder, only to retreat her hand, "It's just- it's good you can remember some of it. It means you're improving. You're getting better."

Five blinked.

And he smiled at Vanya. 

•••

The next morning, Five woke up and he kept trying to tell himself the apocalypse is over the apocalypse is over the apocalypse is over- kept trying to keep his mind off of it.

The cycle repeated for about a week.

It wasn't successful every time, but he was trying, he was.

Dolores still wasn't talking to him, which he was starting to get annoyed by. He could still hear her voice in his head, but she wouldn't actually talk to him. It was irritating.

It was Monday and there was no apocalypse, there was no apocalypse-

Five blinked.

He went downstairs.

As he walked in, the chattering faded for a moment, all eyes on him.

He smiled, got one back from Allison. 

A pot of coffee was already made, so he carefully poured himself a mug, a dazed look in his eyes, before he wandered over to the table.

He sat silently, staring down at his mug. He took a long sip, before looking over at his siblings and opening his mouth.

"Dolores isn't talking to me." He said, voice monotone. His siblings shared glances, but he continued nonetheless. "I think she's upset I stopped working on the apocalypse. But-" He paused, faltering, "But there is no apocalypse, because we...we stopped it?" His voice came out questioning, as though he didn't really believe his own words.

He was pleased with himself when they nodded.

"Five?" Klaus said carefully, the same gentle voice that all of his siblings had. He hated it.

"What?" Five asked, looking over at the other with a raised eyebrow.

"You've- you've been on your meds for a month and a half now, right?" Klaus said. Five paused, trying to think back to when he'd started his meds. He couldn't remember, it'd became routine just to take them without a second thought.

"I...think so?" Five shrugged vaguely, taking another sip of his drink.

"And you remember how the doctor said it could take more than a month for them to kick in?" Klaus questioned and Five scrunched his nose.

"Kinda. I don't remember much from the appointments." Five said with a frown.

"Right, right." Klaus said with a vague wave of his hand, "Have you ever stopped to think Dolores...may not be ignoring you?"

The others shot him a look, and Five just raised an eyebrow.

"Then why isn't she talking to me?" He sassed, setting his cup down.

"Five, it's been a month. The meds have kicked in and Dolores isn't talking to you." Klaus said, glaring at the air next to him.

Five narrowed his eyes, "What're you saying?" He asked.

"I think you know." Allison signed from her seat.

Five sat for a moment, thinking. 

_"I believe your son has psychotic disorder."_

Psychosis. Dr. Harte could've just said "Five Hargreeves is a psychopath", that would've been easier.

_"The symptoms you've listed are all common in psychotic people. Specifically hallucinations, delusions, and memory loss."_

Hallucinations. Ha! They thought Dolores was a hallucination ("auditory hallucinations", as they'd put it). They thought she wasn't real. They were wrong, of course.

_"These meds I'm prescribing may take up to a month to kick in."_

A month, Five had thought. That was a long time. It's okay, they'd all be dead by then, anyways.

_"Afterwords, the hallucinations should fade. It's possible your son may even miss his hallucinations."_

Oh. 

"You're saying-" Five paused, staring down at his hands and frowning deeply, "You're saying she was a hallucination. Her voice..."

A hand was resting on his shoulder now. When had that happened? Five flinched back, glancing over at the person behind him- Luther. Said male mouthed a sorry and moved back.

"Exactly, Five." Allison signed carefully.

"And the meds..." Five trailed off. A frown was set on his lips and he thinks his hands were shaking but he didn't know for sure. His attention was too focused on his siblings- Dolores. 

"I need to get off the meds." Five said after a moment of silence, and that caused quite the commotion.

"Five, hold on-" 

"But you've improved so much!"

"You can't just quit cold turkey, Five."

Five flinched at the noise, but he didn't back down. "I can't stay on them." He said slowly, "The- the apocalypse is- and Dolores- I don't-" Now he was rambling, words fast and almost incoherent.

His siblings were still talking. Too loudly for Five's taste.

So he blinked out.

He'd deal with them tomorrow. 

•••

Five woke up the next morning around 8:30 am.

He stared at the pills, the memories from yesterday returning. 

Dolores.

Five frowned, picking up the bottle and examining it.

He opened the bottle, and he took one despite himself.


End file.
